Mood music

Just a little song to get us all in the Christmas spirit . . .

Sorry I don't know how to rotate the video. Next time I take it on my phone I'll keep the camera the other way. It's still awfully cute.

Five!

Jake turned five in November. Josh was adamant that Jake have a party so on his actual birthday we picked up two of his cousins and ate some cake and opened presents. Not a big celebration but enough for Jake since he wasn't even asking for the party guests. He was very excited to get his glow-in-the-dark Thomas train track from mom and the Joker and Penguin from Grandma and Grandpa Stott.

He is such a sweet kid. He loves to tease, joke around, and play tricks to get people to laugh. He's very quick to say "I love you" and still lets me kiss him but puts definite parameters on it (I can only kiss him at home some days and only in the car other days, etc.). He's my little daredevil who loves to jump off of everything--you'll hear more about that in a future post. We love our Jacob!

Fall 2010

Since Christmas decorations come out by Halloween, I figure it's OK to post about Halloween during the Christmas season, right? Josh was a "Halo army guy" and Jake was Superman! Right before the church trunk or treat, Jake actually brought me the Batman costume that he's worn for the past two years. Now I realize Jake is a small guy, but even he has finally outgrown the Batman outfit. So, he went back to the closet and picked out the dinosaur costume. Since trunk or treat was outside, I wouldn't let him wear the dinosaur because it has a huge fleece tail that would drag on the ground. Since I made that one, I'm a little attached to it and didn't want it ruined. So, he went back to the closet again and got out the bigger Batman costume with muscles. Jake's grown, but not that much. So, he went back to the closet and settled for Superman. What a good sport he was! And he made a very cute Superman.

Baptism

We held Josh's baptism down in Arizona the weekend after his birthday. He was very excited and I was so proud of him. His Grandpa Smith performed the baptism and Grandpa Stott did the confirmation. It was wonderful to have both sets of grandparents there to support him. As Josh was getting ready for bed that night, I asked him how he was doing. He was so happy and said, "You know, I didn't feel any different when I turned eight, but I feel different now!" What an awesome kid!

Eight!

Josh just loves his birthdays and this was a big one. He turned eight which means his baptism was right around the corner. He was very excited to fly to Arizona for the baptism but before we left we had to celebrate at home. He got the Star Wars double light saber that he wanted and a Halo jeep made out of Megablocks. The dirt cupcakes we took to school were a big hit too. He was a little disappointed that we didn't have a party with friends but has seem to forgiven me.

Squeak's

After Pike's Peak we stopped at Squeak's Soda Shop in Colorado Springs. My friend had taken her kids there and it seemed like such a fun place I couldn't wait to try it out. It's a great sandwich and soda place that mixes (almost) any flavor and color soda you could imagine. I decided to try purple oatmeal cookie with vanilla ice cream and Josh had a red root beer float. Jake doesn't like pop, so he tried cookies 'n creme ice cream for the first time. They both loved it and we can't wait to go back! Next time . . . watermelon maybe in blue.

Pike's Peak

In our quest to have more adventures (fun ones, at least), shortly after school started we decided to drive up to the top of Pike's Peak. The drive was beautiful and wasn't nearly as scary as everyone described. Or maybe I'm just a scary driver anyway and I'm accustomed to it. Once at the top, we ate the world famous doughnuts and looked at the amazing 360 degree view. Josh could definitely feel the altitude change which the local EMT said would go away when we reached the tree line again. Sure enough, his heart felt fine as soon as we reached the trees. The body can be very strange sometimes. Right at the tree line was a spot with some great climbing rocks, so we spent some time exploring. The boys had a great time and now we can say we've been to the top!

I'm Back!

Yea! I have a computer that works and actually will upload pictures! I have a lot of pictures to post but also a lot of studying to do. So, little by little I may actually get something on here!

Back to School

This week was the first week back to school with Jacob starting PreKindergarten on Tuesday and Josh starting second grade on Wednesday. When I picked Jaked up from the sitter's house to take him to school, he asked "Is it time for class?" When I said yes, he answered "I LOVE YOU MOM!" So nice that I can do something right every once in a while.

The Chipmunks & Hot Springs

On Friday, I went on a Relief Society retreat up in the mountains near Rye. It was really fun, and being outside made me want to take the boys on a little adventure. The youth in our ward went to the Mt. Princeton hot springs earlier this summer, so after coming home on Saturday I decided to take the boys there. We drove for about an hour and a half (which felt much longer since I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before), found the springs, and kept going to a little ghost town called St. Elmo. Not a lot there except for some old western buildings and the chipmunks. On the wood pile across from the old store, you can find a bunch (20-30ish) of friendly chipmunks. If you bring them black sunflower seeds, they will climb right into your hand to eat. Or across your back as I found out. The boys loved it--especially when they ran up their legs or arms. Josh did really well sitting still for them, but Jake got bored and soon tried to scare them. They don't scare easily though so we still had a good time. One chipmunk even growled at me which made me scared! I've never heard a chipmunk growl before.

We left St. Elmo's and backtracked to the hot springs. Mt. Princeton has a resort with 3 pools (one was 102 degrees and the other was 95 degrees), a slide (which I did not mention to Josh as it cost extra), and my favorite part--the river. They pour water from the springs through pipes directly into the river. It mixed with the really cold water and you can find little sitting pools at just about any temperature from scalding to freezing. It was a really fun afternoon. Jake now wants to go back and feed "Alvin and the chipmunks."

Arizona

Our last big event of the summer was a drive to Arizona. 20 minutes in the car, a pit stop already!, 6 1/2 more hours in the car, an overnight stop in Gallup VERY near the train tracks, 5 1/2 more hours in the car and we were there! The boys were very excited to be out of the car and into the swimming pool to show off their new skills. Josh is a real pro now and as Grandma put it, Jake is a "little fish." He would say, "I swim to you. Farther, farther, PERFECT!" We also went to Makutu's Island (where the kids could run, climb, and go crazy for hours), the Phoenix Children's Museum (Josh loved the pretend grocery store and car wash--Jake loved the pipes that blew scarves in your face), visiting with some college and high school friends, shopping (thank goodness for IKEA's play area), swimming, shopping, swimming, shopping, swimming--well, you get the idea. It was so wonderful to be around Mom and Dad and Susan. I miss my family more than anything! Thanks for the great trip--Jake keeps asking if we're going to Grandma's tomorrow.

Utah

At the end of June, we took a little drive to Utah to see Kathy and Ken. The boys were real troopers during the drive and I've now decided that I can never drive the Montrose way again even though it actually is shorter. The toll it took on my patience was too much.

We had fun going to the pool, the zoo, and shopping. Mom and Dad even made it up to visit for a bit after their youth conference in Bryce Canyon. It was a fun trip and makes me wish everyone lived closer.

Fun in the backyard sprinklers. Just LOVE Kaylee's face in this one!

The boys with their Great-Grandma Stott.

Out at the Park City Outlet malls. Kierra really did like Josh--not sure what her expression means. Notice Jake's cinnamon twist face courtesy of Taco Bell. He just loves taking pictures of himself.

Grandpa and Jake reading books. Jake also discovered Grandpa's famous tickle contests during this trip. Unfortunately, he has my self control when it comes to tickling which just takes all the fun out of the contest when he wins all the time.

Tennis Anyone?

This year's summer sport was tennis. The Rec District offered classes for both boys so our Mondays and Wednesdays started at 8 a.m. Jake went first while Josh sprawled on the grass, front seat of the car, or park bench mumbling about how long this was taking. Then it was Josh's turn and Jake played on the playground next to the tennis courts. I valiantly tried to study some anatomy flashcard in between cheering but I can't say I actually got that much done. The boys had fun though and it got us moving in the morning.